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11 Apr 2018

Hunter-based Compass Housing expands into Sydney with tender win

Hunter-based community housing provider Compass Housing has won a major tender to manage 335 social and affordable housing properties in Sydney.

Not for profit property developer BlueCHP Limited issued the tender to have a single provider of tenancy management, property maintenance and asset management services.

BlueCHP currently provides some services and has community housing providers undertake some services for the portfolio.

The BlueCHP properties that Compass will manage are based largely in Western Sydney. Compass will managing the properties from July 1 and the tender will initially run for three years. Approximately 75 percent of the portfolio is affordable housing and 25 percent social housing. There may be more properties added to the portfolio as the tender progresses.

Compass Housing group managing director Greg Budworth said the tender was important for its expansion into Sydney.

It takes the number of properties managed by Compass to approximately 4,800.

“Having our integrated tenancy management and property management expertise in both social and affordable housing recognised outside of the Hunter is very satisfying,” Mr Budworth said. 

“It is a credit to our high skilled team,” he said.

“Expanding our services creates economies of scale and efficiencies that benefit our services and tenants in the Hunter, central Coast and other regions in which we operate,” he said.

BlueCHP assists in the growth of community housing by providing affordable and subsidised housing solutions to people on low to moderate income and families in housing stress. It is a Tier 1 Community Housing Provider, under the National Registration Scheme for Community Housing (NRSCH). During its 10 years of operation it has delivered 1700 dwellings, retaining 750 which are home to more than 1,300 people.

Compass Housing is based in the Hunter and has grown to be an international community housing provider managing more than 4,800 properties in Australia, New Zealand and Vanuatu.

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11 Apr 2018

Hunter-based Compass Housing expands into Sydney with tender win
20 Mar 2018

Local community housing provider welcomes national campaign and 5 point plan to fix broken housing system

Compass Housing has welcomed a new national campaign focused on delivering housing solutions for all Australians to fix Australia’s broken housing system.

The Everybody’s Home campaign will be launched at a National Press Club luncheon today.

 

More than 30 leading housing and social welfare organisations nationally have joined together to lobby the Federal Government in the lead up to the next Federal election to implement its five point plan for housing.

Compass Housing is one of the campaign partners. CEO Greg Budworth said the campaign builds on the work led by Compass Housing to create the Towards a National Housing Strategy document.

 

He said Compass will be playing its part, including encouraging people to sign a petition to ask the Government to turn the plan in to action.

“Australia’s housing system is broken but there are five things the Federal  government can do to make it work for everyone,” Mr Budworth said..

“A house is more than an economic asset: it’s security; it’s community; it’s a home,” he said.

“All housing problems are connected, whether you are a renter, homebuyer, or struggling to find a safe roof over your head, but there are solutions.”

The campaign includes video, social media, direct mail and lobbying aids to raise people’s awareness of the issues and enlist their support to challenge all political parties to rethink housing policy and embrace new models of development, ownership and support.

The campaign calls for action in five areas.

  1.  Support for first homebuyers - rebalance the tax system to make it fairer for ordinary Australians wanting to buy a home.
  2. More social and affordable rental homes – a National Housing Strategy to meet Australia’s identified shortfall of 500,000 social and affordable rental homes.
  3. A better deal for renters - get rid of “no grounds” evictions and unfair rent rises so that the one in three Australians who rent have the security they need to create homes, build lives and raise families.
  4. Immediate relief for Australians in chronic rental stress - increase Commonwealth Rent Assistance for the thousands of Australians who are struggling to pay the rent.
  5. A plan to end homelessness by 2030 – with a target to halve homelessness in five years - and end it in 10.

 

People are urged to join the campaign at www.everybodyshome.com.au.

 

Last week the Australian Bureau of Statistics released Census data showing homelessness rates on the rise in the Hunter as well as nationally. Mr Budworth said in the Hunter there are around 6,000 people on the waiting list for social housing and thousands more people, including working people, experiencing housing stress.  

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15 Mar 2018

Rising homelessness rates shows need for national housing plan

The continuing rise in rates of homelessness shows the urgent need for a national plan for housing says a Hunter based community housing organisation.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday (March 14) released estimates of the prevalence of homelessness from the 2016 census data.

Compass Housing’s knowledge manager Professor David Adamson OBE said there were 116,427 people classified as being homeless on 2016 Census night, up from 102,439 in 2011. The homeless rate was 50 persons for every 10,000, up 5% from the 48 persons in 2011 and up on the 45 persons in 2006.

Professor Adamson said most of the increase in homelessness between 2011 and 2016 was reflected in people living in severely crowded dwellings, up from 41,370 in 2011 to 51,088 in 2016. Homeless youth (aged 12 to 24) made up 32% of total homeless persons living in severely crowded dwellings. There were more people living in boarding houses too.

He said homelessness was not a choice people made and it is something as a community we should be working towards eliminating..

“There are many reasons why people are homeless, not just a lack of houses,” Professor Adamson said.

This means we need a plan using a combination of evidence based strategies,” he said.

The fact that Australia does not have a national plan for something as fundamental as housing is astounding and one reason why we are seeing more people experiencing homelessness. 

He said the issue is particularly of concern locally with homelessness rate rising by 27% in NSW.  In the Hunter region, the number of people experiencing homelessness rose by 12% from 1559 to 1747.

 

Other key statistics:

  • Nearly 60% of homeless people in 2016 were aged under 35 years, and 42% of the increase in homelessness was in the 25 to 34 years age group (up 32% to 24,224 homeless people in 2016);
  • The number of homeless persons aged 55 years and above has steadily increased over the past 3 Census, from 12,461 in 2006, to 14,581 in 2011 and 18,625 in 2016 (a 28% increase between 2011 and 2016).
  • The rate of older persons experiencing homelessness has also increased, from 26 persons per 10,000 of the population in 2011 up to 29 in 2016.
  • The male homelessness rate increased to 58 males per 10,000 males enumerated in the 2016 Census, up from 54 in 2011, while the rate for females remained steady at 42 per 10,000 females.

“A roof over your head is fundamental to your health, well-being and your ability to work or contribute to society in pother ways.” 

“We need a comprehensive national plan for housing to address housing affordability and homelessness.”

ENDS

Media information: Craig Eardley on 0437 477 493. Prof Adamson is available for interview.

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13 Mar 2018

Everybody's Home Campaign

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The housing and community sectors are launching the Everybody’s Home campaign at the National Press Club on March 20 to bring national attention to reforms urgently needed to fix Australia’s housing system.

The campaign will move Australia’s housing debate beyond questions of housing affordability  – because we all know there is a problem – to the urgently needed solutions.

The campaign calls for urgent reforms across the housing continuum by recalibrating tax settings, supporting larger scale investment in housing models such as community housing, improving renter’s rights to make it a viable housing choice, relieving chronic rental stress and ending homelessness.

Key partners are launching the campaign on the national stage at a National Press Club luncheon on Tuesday, March 20. The day and the following day are also an ideal opportunity to meet with Senators sitting in Canberra that week and get our agenda onto their agenda. We’d love you to join us! REGISTER HERE

 

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05 Mar 2018

Compass contributes to inquiry: Australian Government’s role in the development of cities

Compass has welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the inquiry into the Australian Government’s role in the Development of Cities.

In a submission to the Commonwealth Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities, Compass offered the following observations:

The Commonwealth needs to be involved in urban development planning and monitoring of cities for several reasons including:

  1. The Commonwealth has given undertakings to the international community in various United Nations forums and General Assembly resolutions concerning cities that it needs to have a role in ensuring fulfilment, for examples the Paris Agreement, Agenda 2030 (Sustainable Development Goals) and the New Urban Agenda;
  2. The Commonwealth has a primary role in trade and the national economy which is underpinned by the efficiency of cities and infrastructure requirements, including social infrastructure (e.g. affordable housing);
  3. The Commonwealth has a primary role in immigration policy which is underpinned by the adequate provision of infrastructure, including social infrastructure (e.g. affordable housing) for either immigrating households or those who are displaced from the housing system due to scarcity;
  4. The growing international trend towards polycentric cities and transport hub cities connected by enhanced mobility in mega cities should be logic that is applied to Australia’s east coast and more specifically and obviously between Newcastle, Central Coast and Sydney;
  5. Affordable Housing is a key economic as well as social infrastructure investment.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD COMPASS’ FULL SUBMISSION TO THE INQUIRY

Submission delivered by Greg Budworth, Group Managing Director, Compass Housing Services and Vice President of the General Assembly of Partners to UN Habitat,  2 March 2018.

Research authored by Martin Kennedy, National Communications Manager, Compass Housing Services

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